Low-income women stand to lose

By Peggy Fikac :
April 22, 2012
: Updated: April 22, 2012 9:43pm

And so do nearly 130,000 low-income women enrolled in the Women's Health Program, which provides health screenings and birth-control services.

That's because Texas last week upped the ante in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, which says its exclusion violates its constitutional rights.

Planned Parenthood is the group most notably affected by a state decision to bar clinics associated with abortion providers from the program even though the clinics themselves don't provide abortions.

As we reported, Texas Solicitor General Jonathan F. Mitchell told U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel that the state will end the program if Planned Parenthood wins an injunction forcing its participation.

The statement surprised some who have been following the saga. It outraged Rochelle Tafolla of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

“It's simply unbelievable and cruel for the state to threaten to eliminate health care for more than 130,000 low-income Texas women, if Planned Parenthood is granted the injunction. Women rely on this program to stay healthy. It is a lifeline for tens of thousands of Texas women who don't have health insurance,” she said, emphasizing that health centers participating in the program don't provide abortions.

Texas has already decided to do without federal funds, which have footed 90 percent of the program's bill, rather than allow Planned Parenthood to continue participating in accord with federal rules.

Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said an injunction wouldn't start federal funds flowing again. She said the state would have to submit another waiver application to the federal government. But, she said, Executive Commissioner Thomas Suehs of the Health and Human Services Commission “cannot submit a waiver application that's at odds with state law.”

Gov. Rick Perry has promised officials would find enough state money to provide services. But a state program also is out if Planned Parenthood is in the picture, according to a Suehs affidavit.

If Planned Parenthood wins an injunction, Suehs said, the program will stop when federal money dries up. The commission won't introduce a similar program to succeed it “unless otherwise directed by the Legislature,” he said. The Legislature doesn't convene in regular session until 2013.

Perry's take? According to his spokeswoman Catherine Frazier, “We are confident in our state's case before the court. I'm not going to comment on hypotheticals, we'll consider the proper course of action upon the court's ruling.”

Add it up

Planned Parenthood's court filing in the lawsuit cited both the difficulty it expects women to have finding a different health care provider and the financial toll to its organization. In fiscal year 2010, the Planned Parenthood locations from around Texas involved in the lawsuit had a combined $13 million in reimbursements from the Women's Health Program. “Without these funds, they will not be able to provide anything near the same level of services,” said the court filing, citing the prospect of layoffs and closures.

And now, a word about Ted. Or not

Ted Nugent has played at a Perry inauguration, posed with him in Las Vegas last year when Perry was there selling his book (Perry posted the photo on Twitter, identifying him as “Uncle Ted” Nugent) and calls the governor a dear friend. The governor is not getting anywhere near the controversy engendered when Nugent said, “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Asked his thoughts, Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said, “Gov. Perry has a lot of friends and supporters and he's not going to opine on every thing they say.”